


Gave the Stars

by ami_ven



Category: Firefly
Genre: Community: writerverse, F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-09-14
Updated: 2014-09-14
Packaged: 2018-02-17 07:47:41
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,023
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2302043
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ami_ven/pseuds/ami_ven
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>River likes to look out at the stars, and Jayne starts to understand why.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Gave the Stars

**Author's Note:**

> written for LJ community "writerverse" prompt "stargazing" (1k+ words)

For all the traveling that Jayne had done out in the black, he’d never given much thought to just sitting and looking out at it.

Stargazing, River called it, and she ought to know, smart as she was. 

There’d been a job gone bad when River had busted her ankle, and Jayne had taken to coming up to the cockpit to get her for dinner, because Mal wouldn’t let them start without her, and carrying her was faster than waiting for her to hobble down the stairs. But even after she’d healed up, he kept it up, and most times he’d find her all curled up in Wash’s chair— her chair— just looking out at the stars.

“Stargazing,” she said, every time Jayne growled, “What’cha doin’, Crazy?”

“Why?” he asked, one night, and River turned to look up at him, confused, because he’d never cared before.

“Stars are constant,” she said, after a long moment. “Distant and burning. Guideposts for the way back home. Can’t get lost if you follow the stars.”

“Huh,” said Jayne, then shook his head, and turned back out of the cockpit. “Time for dinner, Moonbrain.”

But now that she’d said it, Jayne couldn’t help thinking of the stars a little different. He couldn’t keep track of them when _Serenity_ was moving through the black, the way River could, but every place they pulled a job on, he’d take a moment to look up at the night sky. He’d seen drawings of the sky from Earth-That-Was, the constellations from old-time mythology. One night, while they were resupplying on a tiny moon, Jayne wondered if the people who settled out in the Rim ever found new patterns in their new skies.

The next place they stopped, he asked the oldest person he could find, who sent him to the general store to buy a little illustrated book of constellations, which Jayne slipped into his pocket before he met up with the others. And in the sudden gunfight that erupted on their way back to _Serenity_ , he forgot all about it.

“Stars are constant,” River repeated, when he asked again. “Steady and reliable. Movements can be anticipated, expected.”

“Huh,” said Jayne, just like he had the first time, but tonight, he waited for her to double-check the auto-pilot and slide out of her chair before he started toward the galley.

The next job they took went bad, and _fast_. Inara was piloting _Serenity_ — since resigning from the Companions’ Guild, she’d been training to fly something larger than her shuttle— freeing River to join the planet-side crew. But even a Reader couldn’t know everything, which was how Jayne found himself crouched behind a crumbling brick wall, trying to avoid flying bullets. River was crouched behind another wall, a few feet away, and he caught her eye.

Maybe she hadn’t been able to Read the bad guys, this time, but they’d been fighting together long enough, now, that even without Reading him, she could anticipate his movements. Jayne might have been disturbed by that, that a Crazy like River knew him so well, but he pushed the thought aside. He raised one hand, indicating the men facing them, and arched one eyebrow in a silent question.

River nodded and Jayne rose, firing even before he’d stood up straight. From the corner of his eye, he could see her moving, too, her bullets hitting exactly where his didn’t. They made it back to _Serenity_ without anyone being shot, for once, and later that night, when Jayne shrugged out of his jacket, the little book of constellations fell out onto his bunk.

Jayne found River in the cockpit, looking out at the stars, and he thrust the book at her. “Here,” he said, gruffly.

She turned it over, carefully running her fingertips along the slightly-battered cover, then opened it. “Stars,” said River, smiling.

“Thought you’d like it,” Jayne muttered. He suddenly realized that he’d never even really _thought_ about buying her the book, he’d just done it— and that was more than a little disquieting.

River turned her smile up at him, and Jayne fled.

He managed to avoid her for three days, not so easy on a small ship like _Serenity_. Then, they stopped on another out-of-the-way moon for supplies, and River cornered him outside the local market.

“He gave her the stars,” she said, as if that was some sort of explanation.

Jayne opened his mouth to ask what the _gorram_ hell she was talking about, when she held up the little book of constellations. “Oh. Weren’t nothin’, Crazy. Just a…a whim. Keep you happy, so you don’t go cuttin’ on me no more.”

To his surprise, her face fell. “She is sorry,” River said, softly. “The girl did not mean to hurt you. She was trying to make sense of the things her mind was telling her, and it was not always truthful. She didn’t mean any harm, but she was… broken.”

“Hey, now,” said Jayne. “You’re better now, ain’t you? Don’t go off all crazy on us anymore, do you? You go on jobs, keep your head when things go south. You got a gun and everything.”

“She does,” said River, brightening. “He has put the gun in her hand himself, in a sign of trust. But now she would return a favor, Man-Named-Jayne. She would give him the stars, as well.”

“You don’t have to go givin’ me somethin’ just ‘cause I gave you somethin’,” Jayne protested, but he didn’t resist the small fingers that closed around his elbow.

River headed for the edge of the small town, where the lights didn’t reach and the sun was setting quickly. Jayne only noticed that she had a folded blanket under her arm when she unfurled it over the patchy grass.

“What’s that for?” he asked.

“Stargazing,” said River, and dropped gracefully onto the blanket.

Carefully, Jayne settled beside her, so that their shoulders brushed. “Yeah?”

“Stars are constant,” said River, and she raised a hand, pointing. “Do you see that star? It could be seen from Earth-That-Was, and…”

Jayne smiled, just listening as she told him the stars.

THE END


End file.
